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HANDS ON: Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard Made For iPhone, iPad [VIDEO]

Here's a foldable portable keyboard from Verbatim that's specifically designed for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. How well does it work, and what must be sacrificed for this amount of portability?

I took this little Verbatim Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard out of its swanky leather case, and with the push of a button, it opened with a satisfying click. Locking the keyboard into a flat position with a sliding tab, soon it was paired up with my iPhone 4 without incident.

Sliding out the built-in stand for the iPhone (the stand's too small for an iPad), I first tried propping the phone onto it in a vertical position. No dice. The iPhone was too top-heavy for that, and constantly slipped off its perch. Moving the phone to the horizontal position, it stayed put, and made more sense for typing documents, anyway.

Looking at the keyboard, it reminds me of the old favorite Palm 3245WW folding Bluetooth keyboard that some people still like so much they're willing to pay upwards of $200 for it. But this Verbatim model goes one step further with a feature that differentiates it from all others: its transport controls let you tend to your music on iPod, iPad or iPhone. It even works with Pandora Radio. You can start/pause, skip to the next or previous track, and control volume from the bank of buttons along the left side. This proved to be a handy feature indeed.

The keyboard's typing action is like most laptop keyboards — rather shallow, but still usable. Touch typists might not like the varied size of the keys, where, for example, the "G" key is slightly smaller, while on the other hand, the "V" key is larger. It's also strange to have two small space bars, but I got used to it quickly. Still, you'll have to make slight compromises for this portability.

Its Bluetooth capability works with other mobile phones, but it really shines with Apple devices, with its full set of keyboard shortcuts that worked well with my iPhone.

Although this keyboard is slightly larger than some other portable keyboards, I think it's a solid piece of kit for those who need portability and would rather type on physical keys than an on-screen keyboard.

So what must be sacrificed? Very little, unless you can't get used to the varied size of the keys, which I found easy to do. The one sticking point for me was its offputting $104 price on the Verbatim website. For that price, it's not worth it, but then I was relieved to find it for $53 on Amazon. For that, it's a good deal, deserving of a place in your carry-on bag.

Take a look at the Verbatim keyboard in action in the video above, and get some close-up looks in the gallery below:

Verbatim Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard

Carrying Case

Nestled Inside

Here It Is

Push This Button

Voila!

Close Look at the Left

Close Look at the Right

What's This Popping Out?

It's a Stand for Your Mobile Phone

Spring Loaded

Place Your Phone on the Stand Horizontally

Stand Doesn't Work In Portrait Mode

Nice Keyboard

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